Search results

Foreign firms in China, particularly those from the Global West, are in a difficult position as deglobalisation and strained international relations create risk. This paper offers research avenues on how operations and supply chain management scholars can analyse the risk factors, de-risking practices, and de-risking outcomes of foreign firms in China.

This paper is primarily based on interviews with managers of foreign firms’ subsidiaries and joint ventures in China between late 2019 and early 2024 and employs institutional theory to develop a conceptual framework.

Six risk factors motivating foreign firms to consider “China+1” (diversification and multi-sourcing) or “In-China-For-China” (localisation with potential bifurcation) are identified. Four pathways focusing on politics, locations, technologies, and people enable further investigation of these de-risking strategies.

This is the first paper to take a deeper look at perceptions, worries, and considerations of foreign firms in China and offers specific recommendations for impactful research.

This paper examines the influence of geopolitical tensions—operationalized as political divergence between governments—on firms’ foreign supply bases and the resulting effects on supply base complexity and sub-tier supplier sharing.

The authors conduct panel data regression analyses over the period 2003–2019 to investigate whether political divergence affects foreign supply bases for 2,858 US firms sourcing from 99 countries and to examine how political divergence exposure impacts the supply network structures of 853 US firms.

Firms reduce their supply bases in countries exposed to heightened geopolitical tensions. These supply chain adjustments are associated with increased supply base complexity and greater sub-tier supplier sharing.

This study highlights the importance of state relations in global supply chain reconfiguration. Political divergence between governments provides a dual-view of political risk (i.e. buyer–supplier countries), which can help firms anticipate geopolitical disruptions. While reducing supply bases in foreign countries facing heightened geopolitical tensions is intended to mitigate disruptions, these supply base adjustments are linked to increased supply base complexity and sub-tier supplier sharing, thereby exposing firms to other types of supply disruptions. Additionally, this research contributes to understanding the effects of geopolitical tensions on supply base complexity through the lenses of transaction cost economics and resource dependence theory.

This paper seeks insights into how multinational enterprises restructure their global supply chains to manage the uncertainty caused by geopolitical disruptions. To answer this question, we investigate three significant geopolitical disruptions: Brexit, the US-China trade war and the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

The study uses an inductive theory-elaboration approach to build on Organisational Learning Theory and Dunning’s eclectic paradigm of international production. Twenty-nine expert interviews were conducted with senior supply chain executives across 14 multinational manufacturing firms. The analysis is validated by triangulating secondary data sources, including standard operating procedures, annual reports and organisational protocols.

We find that, when faced with significant geopolitical disruptions, companies develop and deploy supply chain structural ambidexterity in different ways. Specifically, during Covid-19, the US-China trade war and Brexit, companies developed and deployed three distinct types of supply chain structural ambidexterity through (1) partitioning internal subunits, (2) reconfiguring supplier networks and (3) creating parallel supply chains.

The findings contribute to Dunning’s eclectic paradigm by explaining how organisational ambidexterity is extended beyond firm boundaries and embedded in supply chains to mitigate uncertainty and gain exploration and exploitation benefits. During significant geopolitical disruptions, we find that managers make decisions in tight timeframes. Therefore, based on the transition time available, we propose three types of supply chain structural ambidexterity. We conclude with a managerial framework to assist firms in developing supply chain structural ambidexterity in response to geopolitical disruptions.

This study aims to answer the question: What dynamic capabilities do diverse humanitarian organizations have?

We examine this question through the lens of dynamic capabilities with sensing, seizing and reconfiguring capacities. The research team interviewed 15 individuals from 12 humanitarian organizations that had (a) different geographic scopes (global versus local) and (b) different missions (emergency response versus long-term development aid). We also gathered data from secondary sources, including standard operating procedures, company websites, and news databases (Factiva, Reuters and Bloomberg).

The findings identify the operational and dynamic capabilities of global and local humanitarian organizations while distinguishing between their mission to provide long-term development aid or emergency relief. (1) The global organizations, with their beneficiary responsiveness, reconfigured their sensing and seizing capacities throughout the COVID-19 pandemic by pivoting quickly to local procurement or regional supply chains. The long-term development organizations pivoted to multi-year supplier agreements with fixed pricing to counter price uncertainty and accessed social capital with government bodies. In contrast, emergency response organizations developed end-to-end supply chain visibility to sense changes in supply and demand. (2) Local humanitarian organizations developed the capacity to sense demand and supply changes to reconfigure based on their experiential learning working with the local community. The long-term-development local organizations used un-owned and scalable relief infrastructure to seize opportunities to rebuild affected areas. In contrast, emergency response organizations developed their capacity to seize opportunities to provide aid stemming from their decentralized decision-making, a lack of structured procedures, and the authority for increased expenditure.

We propose a theoretical framework to identify humanitarian organizations' operational and dynamic capabilities, distinguishing between global and local organizations and their emergency response and long-term aid missions.

This study aims to investigate the impact of geopolitical risk (GPR) on supply chain concentration (SCC) and the roles of operational capabilities and resources in this relationship.

Secondary longitudinal data from multiple sources is collected and combined to test for a direct impact of GPR on SCC. We further examine the moderating effects of firms’ operational capabilities and resources (i.e. firm resilience, operational slack and cash holding). Fixed-effect regression models are applied to test the hypotheses, followed by a series of robustness tests to check the consistency of the results.

Consistent with the tenets of resource dependence theory, our analysis reveals a significant negative impact of GPR on SCC. Moreover, we find that this adverse effect is attenuated for firms with higher levels of resilience, more operational slack and greater cash holdings. Further analysis suggests that maintaining a diversified supply chain base during heightened GPR is associated with a firm’s improved financial performance.

This study contributes to the supply chain management (SCM) literature by integrating GPR into the supply chain risk management framework. Additionally, it demonstrates the roles of diversification and operational resources in addressing GPR-induced challenges.

The existing literature indicates that the ultimate purpose of green human resource management (GHRM) practices is to enhance sustainable corporate performance by shaping employees’ green behaviors. In this vein, we argue that green organizational culture and employee existing pro-environmental behaviors are the important factors or channels through which GHRM practices shape green employee behaviors for sustainable corporate performance. Consequently, we draw on the ability, motivation, and opportunity (AMO) framework to examine how firms’ GHRM practices indirectly shape employee green behavior for sustainable corporate performance by cultivating and reinforcing green organizational culture under the boundary condition of high employee pro-environmental behavior.

This study uses multi-source, dyadic, and time-lagged data collected from green HR managers and employees in 242 ISO-14001-certified green firms in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The study applies structural equation modeling through LISREL 12 software for testing of hypotheses.

The findings support the postulation that GHRM practices, directly and indirectly, shape employee green behaviors for sustainable performance. GHRM practices indirectly enhance employee green behaviors for sustainable performance by cultivating and fostering the green organizational culture in the presence of high pro-environmental behavior.

This study outlines theoretical and practical implications on how HRM managers require an established green organizational culture and employee pro-environmental behaviors to effectively direct GHRM for enhanced sustainable corporate performance. HRM managers should make use of appropriate interventions, including but not limited to GHRM practices, to foster a green organizational culture and employee pro-environmental behaviors.

This is an original study that outlines the importance of alignment between Green HRM practices and employee pro-environmental behaviors towards shaping green organizational culture and employee behaviors for corporate sustainability. The study demonstrates how GHRM practices enhance sustainable corporate performance through sequential mediations of green organizational culture and employee green behaviors, and under the boundary condition of pro-environmental behavior.

This study empirically assesses the effects of two key types of organizational and managerial capabilities—dynamic capabilities, and coordination and cohesion capabilities—on environmental performance, considering the moderating effect of family ownership. By applying the tenets of the natural resource-based view and the dynamic capabilities theory, this paper offers new insights into the topic.

The article presents empirical evidence from a survey of 1,019 firms operating in the Spanish tourism sector analyzed using multiple linear regression.

Overall, our results show that both dynamic capabilities and coordination and cohesion capabilities have direct and synergetic positive effects on environmental performance. In addition, the results confirm recent studies that report conflicting evidence on how family ownership affects environmental performance: family ownership is found to exert a distinct direct effect on environmental performance and on the development and application of the capabilities required to improve such performance.

This article sheds light on the conceptual frontiers between the different types of capabilities, as well as provides practical ways of measuring them. The article also brings evidence to bear on the debate concerning the direct and moderating effect that family ownership exerts on the relationship between both types of capabilities over environmental performance. The results of this analysis confirm the complexity of the family ownership effect on this aspect, and provide important insights for both business practitioners and academics.

本研究擬審查多頻率的及為市場成份的信息流和全球指數。

研究人員使用基於改良完全集合經驗模態分解自適應噪聲(Improved Complete Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition with Adaptive Noise)的聚類分析法,取得Rényi有效轉移熵,藉此得到研究結果。

我們發現、於大部份多頻率,在持續性股票和傳統股票間有顯著的負信息流動,這會增加多樣化的益處。這些信息流大部份是雙向的,這強調了股票市場成份及其全球指數在構建投資組合上的重要性。

我們認為持續性股票市場和傳統股票市場大多為異質市場,這顯示了市場的低效率,而且這低效率的程度頗大。

關於傳統股票的實證性文獻裡是充滿了變革動力的,這顯示了它們以多樣化為目的的回報行為。這使我們對關於持續性股票的回報行為、認識變得實在太少了。於此,大量的企業社會責任的新措施不斷提醒各公司、要本著企業社會責任的理念去營運;但投資者需清晰明白他們為何需在可見的將來保持可持續性。因此,他們卑微的願望是一個較好的多樣化投資組合得以形成,故此他們高度要求股票要有組成可靠投資組合的性質和能力,特別是在持續性股票和/或傳統股票當中。

Over time, sustainability and human resource management (HRM) have become inseparable. The duo involves applying the multifaceted idea of sustainability and the United Nations' (UN) sustainable development goals (SDGs) to people and work organizations. Lately, green human resource management (GHRM) has emerged as a distinct area to explore organizational initiatives, aimed at sustainable practices. Despite the potential growth of literature in specified domains, there is a dearth of studies focused on synthesizing the literature from sustainability and organizational performance views. The present study aims to review and synthesize extant literature on sustainable and green HRM and their role in organizational performance and propose a future research agenda.

The present study is based on the review of 65 articles on sustainable and green HRM. Scientific Procedures and Rationales for Systematic Literature Review (SPAR-4-SLR) and theory, characteristics, context and methodology (TCCM) framework have been applied to synthesize the results. Scopus is used as a major database for retrieving the articles. The publications for this research are selected using CABS ranking (4*, 4 and 3) as the criterion.

Application of the TCCM framework and synthesis of the literature revealed that the introduction of SDGs and emphasis on sustainability has reinvigorated research interest in sustainable HRM and tremendous research being published post-SDGs adoption. GHRM plays an important role in affecting organizational performance The results also revealed the widespread use of resource-based perspective, social identity theory, A-M-O and social exchange theory. Additionally, the quantitative approach has been largely employed for GHRM research. Future research can be undertaken by employing a qualitative approach as current literature due to the dearth of qualitative approaches in contemporary literature.

This study advances the body of knowledge by offering a unified conceptual framework and surfaces the latest trends and future directions in this domain. A conceptual framework can be empirically tested in future studies. The study identifies antecedents, moderators, mediators and outcomes of GHRM. The application of these variables can practically help in achieving sustainability and organizational effectiveness. It can further align organizational efforts toward the achievement of sustainable development goals. The concept establishes the role of GHRM in organizational performance.

Despite the growing literature in the domain of GHRM, knowledge remains diverse and piecemeal. Anchored by several theoretical lenses, the concept of GHRM is a fragmented phenomenon. As a result, this Systematic Literature Review (SLR) is critical in identifying gaps and bringing to light various theories that can enhance the domain's theoretical lens. The role of antecedents, moderators and mediators of GHRM in affecting organizational performance has been established. Furthermore, by synthesizing the methods used to get authentic and robust results, the piece of research will serve as a guide for future researchers.

The study examined a wide range of proactive supply chain practices to demonstrate a cross-linkage among them and to understand their effects on both practitioners of previous decision-making models, frameworks, strategies and policies. Here, six supply chain practices are empirically evaluated based on 28 constructs to investigate a comprehensive model and confirm the connections for achieving performance and competence. The study presents a conceptual model and examines the influence of many crucial factors, i.e. supply chain collaboration, knowledge, information sharing, green human resources (GHR) management and lean-green (LG) practices on supply chain performance.

Structural equation modeling (SEM) examines the conceptual model and allied relationship. A sample of 175 respondents' data was collected to test the hypothesized relations. A resource based view (RBV) was adopted, and the questionnaires-based survey was conducted on the Indian supply chain professionals to explore the effect of LG and green human resource management (GHRM) practices on supply chain performance.

The study presented five constructs for supply chain capabilities (SCCA), five constructs for supply chain collaboration and integration (SCIN), four constructs for supply chain knowledge and information sharing (SCKI), five constructs for GHR, five constructs for LG practices (LGPR) and four constructs for lean-green SCM (LG-SCM) firm performance to be utilized for validation by the specific industry, company size and operational boundaries for attaining sustainability. The outcome emphasizes that SCCA positively influence GHRM, LG practices and LG supply chain firm performance. However, LG practices do not influence LG-SCM firm performance, particularly in India.

The study exploited multiple practices in a conceptual model to provide a widespread understanding of decision-making to assist in developing a holistic approach based on different practices for attaining organizational sustainability. The study stimulates the cross-pollination of ideas between many supply chain practices to better understand SCCA, SCIN, SCKI, GHRM and LG-SCM under a single roof for retaining organization performance.

This study presents the impact of Economic Policy Uncertainty (EPU)-induced Trade Supply Chain Vulnerability (TSCV) on the Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in India by leveraging the World Bank Enterprise Survey data for 2014 and 2022. Applying econometric techniques, it examines firm size’ influence on productivity and trade participation, providing insights for enhancing SME resilience and trade participation amid uncertainty.

The econometric techniques focus on export participation, along with variables such as total exports, firm size, productivity, and capital intensity. It addresses crucial factors such as the direct import of intermediate goods and foreign ownership. Utilizing the Cobb-Douglas production function, the study estimates Total Factor Productivity, mitigating endogeneity and multicollinearity through a two-stage process. Besides, the study uses a case study of North Indian SMEs engaged in manufacturing activities and their adoption of mitigation strategies to combat unprecedented EPU.

Results reveal that EPU-induced TSCV reduces exports, impacting employment and firm size. Increased productivity, driven by technological adoption, correlates with improved export performance. The study highlights the negative impact of TSCV on trade participation, particularly for smaller Indian firms. Moreover, SMEs implement cost-based, supplier-based, and inventory-based strategies more than technology-based and risk-based strategies.

Policy recommendations include promoting increased imports and inward foreign direct investment to enhance small firms’ trade integration during economic uncertainty. Tailored support for smaller firms, considering their limited capacity, is crucial. Encouraging small firms to engage in international trade and adopting diverse SC mitigation strategies associated with policy uncertainty are vital considerations.

This study explores the impact of EPU-induced TSCV on Indian SMEs’ trade dynamics, offering nuanced insights for policymakers to enhance SME resilience amid uncertainty. The econometric analysis unveils patterns in export behavior, productivity, and factors influencing trade participation during economic uncertainty.